In the second book of his monumental historical trilogy, Fate’s
Marionettes, author, teacher and lecturer, Dr. Donald LoCicero,
depicts life in Europe during and after the Second World War and the
Holocaust, detailing as well the founding of the state of Israel.
Employing the incredible journey of one man through the labyrinth of
racism and bloodshed which characterize that critical period of human
history, Dr. LoCicero’s meticulously researched work gives the reader
a comprehensive picture of the horrific events which still critically
affect our lives.

After reading, Fate’s Marionettes, this reader has
gained an awareness of the bloody war between tiny Finland and the
Soviet Union, a war which further deepened animosity between those two
nations. Also made clear by the work is the role that Great Britain and
others played in the evolution of an independent Jewish State, the roots
of the hatred between Arabs and Jews which unfortunately has not abated,
and the cruel reality of the Soviet Gulags.

We were fortunate enough to gain an interview with the author. Don
LoCicero is a PhD, recently retired from Cedar Crest College in
Allentown, Pennsylvania where he taught international language, world
literature and creative writing for thirty-five years. In addition to
his academic credentials, Dr. LoCicero credits growing up in Brooklyn,
New York with teaching him "street smarts." He is considered a
leading expert on the Holocaust and other genocides of the modern era.
Here is what he had to say:

Question: What motivated you to write your trilogy?

Answer: It has always been incomprehensible to me how human beings
could have committed such atrocities as those during the Holocaust and
other genocides like Armenia, Cambodia, Nanjing, and Bosnia, not to
mention what our forefathers did to the indigenous peoples here. What
started out as a short story, soon became a full-length work, The
Twisted Star, then a trilogy, with Fate’s Marionettes
coming next, and the soon to be published The American War
rounding out the trilogy.

Question: The descriptions of locations and events are so detailed
as to make one believe that you had actually been present. How were you
able to accomplish such realism?

Answer: In order to do this, I traveled to virtually all of the
places I wrote about, interviewed those who had lived through the
events, read extensively, and created characters with whom I could
identify. This is a technique all fiction writers and methods actors
employ; in a word, it is the exercise of empathy. While my characters
are inventions, however, I adhered to the historical facts as much as
humanly possible.

Question: I understand that this is the second book in your
trilogy. Do I have to read the first one, The Twisted Star, in
order to understand this work?

Answer: Fates Marionettes is a continuation of the
first work insofar as it carries the lives of the characters to the next
epoch. In that respect, a reading of The Twisted Star
would help the reader to get an even greater grasp of the historical and
personal themes. However, if one did not know that there was a previous
work, Fate’s Marionettes could be read independently
without any loss. The same holds true for the third work, The
American War.

Question: Have you used your books in your teaching and other
lectures?

Answer: Yes. The Twisted Star became one of the key
works in a course on the Holocaust which I developed in the early 1970s;
a course which expanded to include other genocidal actions by one group
against another. All three works have been published in China, where I
have used them for lectures at Capital Normal University in Beijing
during my visits there.

Question: It is obvious that you spent many years researching and
writing these works? What is the goal you hoped to achieve by this
expenditure of time and effort, and have you achieved that goal?

Answer: That is a difficult question to answer, because there is no
single answer. For one thing, I sought to gain understanding through the
writing of my work. I wanted to grasp how such things could occur,
particularly in modern times and in so-called enlightened countries.
Unfortunately, while I now know quite a bit about the anatomy of
genocide, I am still unable to understand the human capability to
perpetrate such brutality.

Secondly, I hoped to teach through my writing. I wanted to make as
many people as possible aware of the deadly effects of racism, bigotry,
and other blind hatreds; to show how insidious the process leading to
genocide is. Further, I sought to teach that to remain silent in the
presence of injustice is to become an accomplice. I have spoken out in
my trilogy so as not to be such an accomplice, and to convince others to
do the same.